Thailand

Travel from home to Chiang Mai.

• Welcome to Thailand! Visit the Warorot Market where your samlor drivers will be waiting to give you a tour—your guide will tell you about the “Chiang Mai on Three Wheels” project, which aims to preserve the samlor (bicycle taxi) as a means of transportation in Chiang Mai. 
• After visiting the market take the samlor to visit two of the most famous Buddhist temples: Wat Chedi Luang and Wat Phra Singh before heading back to the hotel.

• Travel to Ban Mae Sa Mai, the largest Hmong community in Northern Thailand, home to an Agricultural Royal Development Project initiated by the late King Bhumibol Adulyadej. 
• Visit the research center for herb and vegetable production. Meet with Sowmee, the silversmith of the village, before embarking on a 2-hour trail walk led by a Hmong guide to visit the community’s   vegetable fields. 
• Enjoy a picnic lunch with views over the Mae Sa Valley before returning to the village to learn more about Hmong culture and visit the nursery to learn about the village’s collaboration with Chiang Mai University on a forest restoration project.

• Enjoy a behind the scenes tour of Elephant Parade Land’s production studio and see the garden filled with colorful life-sized baby elephant statues. Listen to the story of Elephant Parade’s 10+ year existence and discuss their mission to protect the endangered Asian elephant. Inspired by many vibrant elephants, created by an eclectic mix of artists, brand collaborations and superstars, get creative and enjoy designing your very own elephant in miniature size.
  
  
• Learn about community-based tourism at Ban Luang Nua, a Tai Lue village north of Chiang Mai.Visit a traditional house. There are very few traditional houses left in this village, visit the Tai Lue museum/cultural center to get an idea of their original lifestyle. Here you will participate in activities such as weaving, and learning to make typical Tai Lue snacks. Learn about the history of the people of this community who moved here from Southern China in 1389. Dress up in a traditional Tai Lue costume.
  
  
• Take a cooking class and prepare dinner. Tour the organic farm while learning about Thai herbs and vegetables. Enjoy collecting eggs and other fresh ingredients. Begin by making curry paste and soup. Then try making a stir fry and dessert.

• Visit the Centre for Social Impact at Payap University. Participate in an engaging discussion led by the Director of the Centre on the role of the Sustainable Development Goals in guiding Thailand to a brighter future. 
• Enjoy activities, quizzes, and more during this dialogue as you get to know Thailand, how the SDGs are helping shape the country’s future, and how education is playing a leading role.

• Visit Wat Huay Pla Kang & Foundation. This temple raised money to construct a hospital where the poor and disadvantaged get free health care. They take care of about 500 orphans and elderly people.
• Head to the Mirror Foundation and meet the local hill tribe women who lead the eBannok Handicrafts Project. Participate in a skills-sharing workshop with the women; learn to mold clay into birds, paint already fired pieces, or weave in traditional ways.

• Head to Doi Chang, Northern Thailand’s coffee village, on the way back to Chiang Mai. Enjoy lunch in the village and visit coffee farms to learn about the hill tribes in this region who historically grew opium until a Royal Development Project introduced coffee beans. At first, farmers were susceptible to middle men who set unfair prices. But in 2002, the village prioritized sustainable development by establishing Doi Chaang Coffee Original Co to assist coffee growers in getting fair prices, developing their own brand, and promoting collaboration for improved quality.

• Visit “The Chang”, home of elderly and retired elephants. Learn about the Asian elephant and the issues surrounding its preservation. Meet elderly elephants and get close to them. Learn to make herb balls which you will later feed to the elephants. You will also visit the elephant cemetery to learn about elephants from a skeleton, and then visit the place where the elephants rest at night time. Wrap up by meeting the younger elephants and getting a chance to bathe them. 
  
  
• Visit the Elephant POOPOOPAPER Park, an eco-friendly outdoor museum that explains the unique steps involved in making paper products from elephant poop fibers. Pull up a stool, roll up your sleeves and join talented artisans in this head-turning process.
  
  
• Head to Bo Sang (umbrella makers village) and learn about the Creative Cities Network’s efforts to preserve and promote arts and culture industries in Chiang Mai. Hear from a maker about how local art skills are passed down.

• Visit Doi Suthep and the mountain-top temples of Wat Phrathat Doi Suthep and Wat Pha Lat. Partake in an almsgiving ceremony near the shrine for Chiang Mai’s most venerated monk, Kruba Srivichai, whose followers constructed the road to the temple in 1935. Walk a short stretch of the famous Monk’s Trail.
  
  
• Visit SuperBee, a dynamic and thriving social enterprise dedicated to empowering women, creating employment in rural areas, and reducing reliance on single-use plastics. Join a workshop and a discussion about plastic pollution.
  
  
• Explore Chiang Mai’s famed night market.

Begin your journey home.